Crafting & Cooking In The Everyday Blessings Of Life

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Monthly Archives: April 2014

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So the next thing that I tell you will either go completely over your head, or you may be able to relate. Have you seen Les Miserables? Have you heard One Day More? Does it randomly get stuck in your head? I wake up singing it sometimes, it pops into my head at random times throughout random days, and then it stays put for awhile. It seems to always be ‘one day more’ of One Day More.

I haven’t been able to decide if it’s a good or a bad thing yet. It could be a much worse song. I went through a phase of having this song from Land Before Time stuck in my head all day every day for about a week and I actually got scared that it would never go away and I would slowly lose my mind. So. One Day More. I like the song. I mean, come on, it really is a great one. But. Even too much of a good thing can be a bad thing. I’ll let you know if it becomes a problem. In the meantime though, try your hardest not to worry about this extreme situation I’m in 😉

Easter Planter Display

I have been wanting to do this planter display for so long, and finally the time has come. Easter! My pastor makes such a good point every year: don’t rush over Good Friday, it’s an important part, but as Christians we definitely look forward to Easter Sunday! This planter is something neat you can leave out over Passion Week to see the grass grow and serve as a

very

very

very

very

important reminder of what Jesus did for us!! He gave His life for ours. He paid our debt with His blood. I encourage you to take a minute (AT LEAST) to think about the reality of that. I think we all get so used to hearing this piece of history that we can become desensitized to what it actually means for Him to love us so much!

Have you ever needed forgiveness? Have you ever sinned? Have you ever given up on somebody after their 5th, 10th, 100th chance? Jesus doesn’t. And in fact, knowing all of our faults, and mistakes, and flaws He still chose to trade His life for ours. He loves all of us that much.

Have you accepted Him as your Savior? It’s free, thanks to Him!

What You Need:

Large Terra Cotta bowl (or a wanna-be one from the $1 store made out of plastic)

Mini Terra Cotta pot

Medium sized round-ish rock that is approximately the size of the mini terra cotta pot’s opening

Lots of little rocks

Dirt

Chia pet kit, or some ‘grow-grass yourself kit’ that contains the following (you could also try acquiring the 2 items separately, however, I have not done it that way):

Vermiculite (supports root growth)

Grass Seeds

Sticks from a tree for the crosses

Thick sting

Glue gun (optional)

Instructions:

Step 1: Scoop a bunch of dirt in the large pot. Half way through, set the mini terra cotta pot on its side and build a mound of dirt over it. Don’t cover the opening. Leave half of the large pot (the part outside of the mini terra cotta pot’s opening) at a lower level of dirt. Also, leave a few inches from the top.

Step 2: Add the medium sized rocks to the side of the mini terra cotta pot’s opening (this represents the rock the angel rolled away from the entrance of Jesus’ tomb). Add all the small rocks to the lower level of dirt area (the part outside of the mini terra cotta pot’s opening).

Step 3: Spread the vermiculite generously over the rest of the exposed dirt area (i.e. the mound).

Step 4: Break the branches into 6 pieces for the 3 crosses. You want the vertical pieces to be longer than the horizontal pieces. I made the cross in the center a little larger than the other two (these represent Jesus the two thieves on the cross). Put a dab of hot glue to glue the pieces together and then wrap the string around where the pieces intersect and stick them into the dirt.

Step 5: Sprinkle the grass seeds all over the vermiculite. Make sure to water the seeds everyday.

Step 6: Let it grow! <– another song that always gets stuck in my head from The Lorax (it’s worth it though)

So today I’ve decided I’m going to start off by sharing with you something I love and something I’m afraid of (other than snakes…and car washes):

Fear:

Opening champagne bottles. I recently had a fun movie night with a friend, and intended to bring some wine, but instead I grabbed champagne. Which was fine. It was good. But opening it was my least favorite part. It’s actually scarier than opening cinnamon rolls because you risk the cork flying into your eye. And normally when champagne is had there are lots of people around, one of which might be a guy, or a less scaredy-cat girl who could have stepped in. But not this day. Fortunately, all disasters were adverted. My first time opening champagne was a success! Hooray! Although that doesn’t mean I learned from this experience and will be any less scared next time…

Love:

Method hand soap in Waterfall. Not only do I love the color, but I actually get excited to wash my hands because of how much I love the scent. They aren’t paying me to say this, not in money nor hand soap (unfortunately), but I just felt compelled to let everyone know about how much I love this soap. Do not be disillusioned that this smells like that cliche “water” scent that candles take on. It’s much better. I haven’t been this excited to wash my hands since I bought Tom a cool oil can mechanism soap dispenser for his apartment. Can you imagine anything better than this hand soap IN that dispenser??? oh my..

Love In A Bottle

Speaking of love, how about a little love in a bottle?

What You Need:

Clear bottle- $1.50 from Michaels

Wine cork + knife (if it doesn’t have a stopper)

String

Hot Glue

Pink or red paper – or color on white paper

Gift tag

Instructables:

Step 1: To make a cork if you don’t have one- Get a wine cork, hopefully one that is close to fitting. Using a knife carefully cut down the outside of the cork. Once you have it thin enough to fit, slice the height of the cork down to fit your bottle.

Step 2: Fold the colored paper in half and cut a heart shape out, so you end up with two identical pieces. Crumple a little bit of the remaining colored paper in between the two pieces so it becomes 3D. Glue everything together. Gently fold the edges of the heart around the crumpled paper so you can’t see it. You can also just go the route of making an origami heart, but I felt like doing it my way 🙂

Step 3: Depending on what color string you have you may have to color it with a sharpie to

make it visible. Mine was light gray so I had to color it. Measure on the outside approximately how far down you want the heart to dangle, and add a tiny bit extra to account of gluing.

Step 4: Put a tiny bit of glue at the middle of the heart and gently stick your piece of string into it. Do the same thing with the center of the cork, and stick the string to it.